Accidents at Amazon: workers left to suffer after warehouse injuries | Hacker News Reader

Accidents at Amazon: workers left to suffer after warehouse injuries

theguardian.com

114 pointsmcfunk23 comments

Yet another fucked up issue that is made worse by the lack of proper healthcare in the US. In Washington State, it's almost impossible to open worker's compensation claims at all and when one finally does manage, the state steps in with their quack doctors to claim it isn't the employer's fault and the state shouldn't pay for it. Even if the employer wants to help . Attorneys don't want to take the case because there is no profit to be made from someone getting better. And companies like Amazon and others get away with injuring workers and paying nothing for it. Pretty fucked up way to run a society. One of these days, someone like this is going to snap and then the idiots will be all up in arms about gun control or some other bullshit completely missing the point. The cycle will continue with people being abused and taken advantage of in the name of profits. I've been dealing with this shit now for almost three years and no end in sight. I'm lucky I make good money and can afford care for myself but still hurting everyday, working in pain every day. No one gives a fuck about your health here even when you are making the company a shitload of money, let alone when you're too injured to work because the job injured you. Company profits, state profits (from not paying for obvious worker's compensation injuries) are all more important than employee lives or health and employees have zero recourse especially in a state like WA. We pay for workers compensation insurance only to be denied and left to suffer. What a fucked up system.

Yes, this was my experience, though I haven't snapped yet.

Not that I'm saying that what's happening is right, but rather just a serious question: why not move? I know it's not fair per se, but if it's within your means why not?

because leaving your community is not a purely economic decision.

if everyone thought like this, nothing would ever improve in downtrodden areas.

Sad to see this state of affairs in WA. It’s a very rich state but feels quite poor.

Union needed here.

Unions are needed pretty much everywhere, but I'm curious how something as big as Amazon would crush any union. How did we let workers rights get this bad?

I don't have prime anymore, and have stopped buying from Amazon all together because I know the person who put my item in the box is being treated like they're trash. It's extremely immoral and peak exploitation.

>How did we let workers rights get this bad?

We (by 'we' I mean Americans) despise anything that smacks of socialism, and "workers' rights" smacks of socialism.

It didn't use to be this way.

Worse than that, the very term "workers' rights" has been co-opted to mask the exploitation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law

It's pretty ubiquitous. Union membership in Australia has been in a continuous decline since I arrived in 1987 and there are huge residual resentments to the union movement which I think are overplayed, but alas real.

In ICT, I think the 'somebody elses problem' syndrome is pretty huge. Amazon ICT staff get really good pay and conditions and don't appear to feel strong solidarity with the warehouse workers. Google smart people get huge fringe benefits, the gardeners and food and cleaning staff are on contract and somehow 'don't count' but even worse, some ICT staff in Google are indirect hires through third companies, and even they get shat on (from what i read) and nobody much cares.

TL;DR I think a lot of people have forgotten what solidarity means.

I genuinely do appreciate the qualification. Too often does the internet feel like it's by Americans for Americans. Then I'm left there with "b-b-but you make it sound like the whole world works that way!" moments.

Amazon has been union busting for a while now.

http://time.com/956/how-amazon-crushed-the-union-movement/

Strong, well funded interests have been systematically dismantling all possible legal supports for unions in the US for decades, and have especially recently been landing all sorts of rollbacks.

The article states they have found numerous cases of workers injuring themselves at Amazon warehouses. Let’s hear that number. What percentage of warehouse employees is it? How does it compare to Walmart? Why is everything written these days so stupid?

If anything, this an argument for single payer. Your health care should not depend on your job.

While I agree that health care shouldn't be tied to your job, employers still have a responsibility for worker safety and should still be responsible for any injuries that happen in their workplace.

Your comment, and the last part of the one you've replied to, put together, sound almost... European. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Source: Grew up in Europe. You can't fake civilization.

Sure, but that's handled by subrogation.

The liable party has little to do with insurance structures. An employer is liable for injuries even if they aren't providing health care insurance.

Single payer, and health care being tied to your job are not mutually exclusive. Take away tax incentives for offering it to employees and make health insurance premiums tax deductible for individuals. I think you would see an overall decrease in health care costs as people become more selective of the plan they choose and then are more careful of the health care costs they incur.

I totally agree.

I don’t understand how Solopreneurs who don’t have the bargaining capability of big tech cos afford healthcare in this country.

I’m thinking of quitting my job and going solo but not having a safety net of healthcare makes me really worried. Especially with a toddler.

A private plan will be cheaper per person than most any corporate plan, regardless of their negotiating power. Many people think their corporate plan is a great deal, because they are only contributing a small portion to the total cost. The company is picking up the rest of the tab.

And if you are going to go solo and plan to live off savings for a while, Marketplace subsidies are based only on income. So even if you have $1m in the bank, you will still get the subsidies. The sweet spot is to make just enough to "not" qualify for your state's medicare program. For a family of 3, depending on where you live, you could make $50k and still get excellent coverage for a few hundred dollars a month.

Amazon should also provide safe working conditions, instead of acting like a factory in a banana republic.

The fucked up working conditions in Amazon warehouses are well documented at this point. The only question is why they're not getting their asses sued off, especially in such a litigious society.

They probably have some arbitration clause in the contract, also making a mockery of the concept of justice, not only worker's safety.

Article mentions using temp agencies to add a buffer layer, as one strategy to avoid liability

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